JOHN SEBASTIAN
John Sebastian (born March 17, 1944) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, harmonicist, and autoharpist. He is best known as a founder of The Lovin’ Spoonful, a band inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000; for his impromptu appearance at the Woodstock festival in 1969; and for his #1 hit in 1976, “Welcome Back”. (More from Wikipedia)
Several of the performers that had appeared at the original Woodstock Music & Art Fair in 1969 were in attendance at the Vietnam Veterans Benefit Concert near Washington, D.C., on July 4, 1987: Richie Havens, Country Joe, John Sebastian, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (at least individually, with Stephen Stills and Neil Young appearing in a reformed Buffalo Springfield). Other musicians at the Vietnam Veterans Benefit Concert included James Brown, Stevie Wonder, the Byrds, Bonnie Raitt, Kris Kristofferson, Linda Ronstadt, Frankie Valli, and the Four Tops; and there were also speeches by John Ritter, Louis Gossett, Jr., Whoopi Goldberg, Oliver Stone, and Ed Asner.
(January 2013)
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The Mamas and the Papas are another band featuring both men and women that had enduring popularity throughout the British Invasion years. The complicated story of their formation and the other musicians who moved in and out of their circles – which included John Sebastian and Zal Yanofsky of the Lovin’ Spoonful – is related in their song “Creeque Alley”. Considerably more drama would follow during and after the Mamas and the Papas had their hit-making run.
(November 2013)
